Abstract:Objective To analyze the relationship between the expressions of Ki-67, p53, and cytokeratin 20 (CK-20) in bladder cancer tissues and tumor characteristics as well as patient prognosis.Methods A retrospective analysis of clinical data from 103 bladder cancer patients admitted to our hospital from January 2018 to February 2021 was performed. The expressions of Ki-67, p53, and CK-20 were examined in tumor tissues and adjacent non-tumor tissues. The positive expression rates of Ki-67, p53, and CK-20 in tumor tissues versus adjacent tissues were compared, and the correlations between protein expressions in tumor tissues and clinicopathological features (pathological pattern, clinical stage, number of tumors, tumor diameter, lymph node metastasis, invasiveness) were analyzed. A three-year postoperative follow-up was conducted for all patients, who were classified into the good prognosis (n = 71) and poor prognosis (n = 32) groups based on whether they experienced tumor recurrence, metastasis, new lesions, or death. The expressions of Ki-67, p53, and CK-20 in these groups were compared, and multivariable Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the association between protein expressions and prognosis.Results The positive expression rates of Ki-67, p53, and CK-20 in tumor tissues were significantly higher than those in adjacent tissues (P < 0.05). In patients with T3 and T4 stage tumors, lymph node metastasis, and invasive tumors, the positive expression rates of Ki-67, p53, and CK-20 in tumor tissues were even higher (P < 0.05). In the poor prognosis group, the positive expression rates of Ki-67, p53, and CK-20 in tumor tissues were also higher than those in the good prognosis group (P < 0.05). Multivariable Logistic regression analysis showed that high expressions of Ki-67 [O^R = 8.699 (95% CI: 2.253, 33.591) ], p53 [O^R = 10.582 (95% CI: 2.175, 51.492) ], and CK-20 [O^R = 5.486 (95% CI: 1.375, 21.885) ] were independent risk factors for poor prognosis in bladder cancer patients (P < 0.05). ROC curve analysis indicated that the sensitivity of combined detection of Ki-67, p53, and CK-20 was 75.0% (95% CI: 0.566, 0.885), with a specificity of 77.5% (95% CI: 0.660, 0.865), and an area under the curve of 0.805 (95% CI: 0.720, 0.890).Conclusions The expressions of Ki-67, p53, and CK-20 in bladder cancer tissues are increased and closely related to the postoperative prognosis of the patients.